Aquaculture Division

The challenge of the Division of Aquaculture is to promote aquaculture and fish farming in harmony with nature, society and economy. Aquaculture in Iceland can be divided into four main categories: Sea cage farming of salmon, Salmon and Arctic char farming in land-based operations, on-land farming of marine fish and stock enhancement of wild salmon.  Aquaculture has the potential to become a powerful industry in more sparsely populated areas and can support other activities such as tourism.

In the international context, Icelandic seafood products have a strong foothold and are regarded as quality products. The Icelandic aquaculture sector has an opportunity to fulfil same expectations.  For this to happen, the image of Icelandic aquaculture must be lifted above all doubts.

Our goal is to promote aquaculture in Iceland. Therefore, we will focus our efforts on the following:

• To perform and promote research with the aim of reducing environmental and economic risk of fish farming in Iceland, increasing investment opportunities and strengthening the business sector.

• To disseminate knowledge and experience to the Icelandic aquaculture.

• Raise funds for research through domestic and international research funds.

• To create a new generation of scientists who will lead the research of the future.

The Aquaculture Division has a state-of-the-art seawater research facility at the site in Grindavík, which has been operating for 30 years. The station has about 50 tanks of different sizes with total capacity of about 500 m3. The division's staff has extensive experience in marine fish and salmonid farming, in rearing of larvae and fingerlings of various species, vast experience in the field of on-growing studies and measurements of feed utilization, growth rate as well as  water quality and utilisation of water and geothermal energy in fish farming.